Communication systems are known to convey data from one entity to another. The data may be audio data, video data and/or text data. In such communication systems, the one or more transmission mediums (e.g., radio frequencies, coaxial cable, twisted pair copper wire, fiber optic cabling, et cetera) transmit data in accordance with one or more data transmission protocols. The distance over which the data traverses within a communication system may be inches, feet, miles, tens of miles, hundreds of miles, thousands of miles, et cetera.
As is also known, communication systems have two basic configurations: wide area networks (WANs) and local area networks (LANs). In addition, WAN and/or LAN communication systems may use a variety of transmission types including broadcast transmissions, asymmetrical transmissions, and symmetrical transmissions. In a broadcast communication system, a network hub transmits data to a plurality of users with little or no data being transmitted from the users to the network hub. Examples of broadcast communication systems include radio systems, NTSC (national television standards committee) television systems (e.g., regular TV), high definition television systems, cable systems, and satellite systems. In each of these broadcast communication systems, a network hub (e.g., radio station, television station, et cetera) transmits a broadcast signal. Any user within range of the broadcast signal and who has an appropriate receiver (e.g., radio, television, et cetera) can receive the broadcast signal. Such broadcast systems employ a particular data transmission protocol such as amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, ultra-high frequency, very high frequency, et cetera.
Asymmetrical communication systems transmit more data in one direction than in another (i.e., one entity transmits more data to other entities than it receives from each of the other entities). An example of an asymmetrical communication system is the Internet, where web servers transmit substantially more data than they receive from any one user. The Internet uses TCP/IP as its data transmission protocol, while a variety of physical layer data transmission protocols may be used to access the Internet. Such physical layer data transmission protocols include asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay, integrated services digital network (ISDN), digital subscriber loop (DSL) and all derivatives thereof, and multiple packet label switching (MPLS). Such asymmetrical communication systems may be wide area networks (e.g., the Internet), or local area networks (e.g., local server based system).
Symmetrical communication systems include a plurality of users where the data flow between any of the users could be equal. Examples of symmetrical communication systems include public switch telephone network (PSTN), local computer networks, cellular telephone systems, intercom systems, private branch exchanges (PBX), et cetera. Such symmetrical communication systems use at least one data transmission protocol. For example, a computer network may utilize any one of the Ethernet standards.
In any type of communication system, a user must have the appropriate receiving and possibly transmitting equipment to independently access the communication system. For example, a user of a satellite television system must have a satellite receiver and a television to receive satellite broadcast. If another television is to independently access the satellite broadcast, it needs its own satellite receiver. The same is true for NTSC broadcast, cable broadcast, et cetera, although currently most televisions include an NTSC tuner and/or some form of cable tuner.
The number of households having multiple television sets is continually increasing, and many users want to have the latest and greatest video viewing services. As such, many households have multiple satellite receivers, cable set-top boxes, modems, et cetera. As is further known, dependent multiple access to satellite broadcasts may be achieved by linking slave televisions to a master television. The master television has full control of, and independent access to, the satellite receiver, while the slave televisions receive whatever channel has been selected by the master.
Similarly, for in-home Internet access, each computer or Internet device can have its own Internet connection. As such, each computer or Internet device includes a modem. As an alternative to each computer having its own modem, an in-home local area network may be used to provide Internet access. In such an in-home local area network, each computer or Internet device includes a network card to access a server. The server provides the coupling to the Internet.
In-home local area networks use one or more of telephone lines, radio frequencies, power lines, wireless and/or infrared connections as the communication medium. Such in-home local area networks are typically used to facilitate in-home computer networks that couple a plurality of computers with one or more peripherals. As such, entertainment-type data transmissions (e.g., from VCRs, DVDs, et cetera) are not typically supported by the in-home local area network.
In particular, wireless communication systems are becoming increasingly commonplace in public and private use. Wireless communication systems can include numerous wireless communication devices. The wireless communication devices include, but are not limited to, radios, cellular telephones, stations coupled to personal computers, laptops, personal digital assistants, et cetera, that communicate amongst one another via wireless communication channels administered by wireless infrastructure devices. Such wireless infrastructure devices can include base stations (e.g., for cellular wireless communication systems), access points (e.g., for wireless local area networks), and system controllers. The wireless infrastructure devices operate in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advance mobile phone service (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variations thereof. A single wireless base station or access point can transmit simultaneously to multiple wireless communication devices (client devices).
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or multiple channels (e.g., one or more of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers utilized by the wireless communication system) and communicate over that channel or channels. For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building, wireless network) via an assigned channel, or channels. To complete a communication connection between wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, the public switch telephone network, the internet, and/or some other wide area network known to those skilled in the art.
For each wireless communication device to participate in wireless communications, the device includes or is coupled to a radio transceiver. (i.e., receiver and transmitter) Receivers receive RF signals, demodulate the RF carrier frequency from the RF signals to produce baseband signals, and demodulate the baseband signals in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard to recapture the transmittal data. A radio receiver may include a low noise amplifier, one or more intermediate frequency states, filters and a receiver baseband processor. The low noise amplifier amplifies radio frequency (RF) signals received via an antenna and provides the amplified RF signals to the one or more intermediate frequency stages. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mixes the amplified RF signal with one or more local oscillations to produce a receive baseband signal. The receiver baseband processor, in accordance with a particular wireless communication standard, decodes and/or demodulates the baseband signals to recapture data therefrom.
As is also known, the transmitter converts data into RF signals by modulating the data to produce baseband signals and mixing the baseband signals with an RF carrier. The radio transmitter includes a baseband processor, one or more intermediate frequency stages, filters, and a power amplifier coupled to an antenna. The baseband processor encodes and/or modulates, in accordance with a wireless communication standard such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, Bluetooth, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), et cetera, to produce baseband signals. The baseband processor produces an outbound baseband signal at a given processing rate. Typically, the processing rate of the transmitting baseband processor is synchronized with the transmitting local oscillation or oscillations and is a fraction of the local oscillation, or oscillations. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations to produce a radio frequency signal. The filter filters the radio frequency signal to remove unwanted frequency components and the power amplifier amplifies the filtered radio frequency signal prior to transmission via the antenna.
Further, data transmissions comprise serial streams of data, but within a network component (e.g., switch, relay, bridge, gateway, et cetera) the data is processed in parallel. It is a function of the transceiver within each communication device or network component to convert data from a serial to a parallel form, or vice-versa. In general, the transmitter converts parallel data into serial data and sources the serial data onto a communications link. A receiver receives serial data via a communications link and coverts it into parallel data.
However, wireless transmission systems can suffer from signal degradation and possible data corruption when simultaneously transmitting to multiple devices along channels whose resources are not allocated based on the number and needs of the client devices sharing the one or more wireless channels. For example, a wireless communication system's resources can be allocated differently based on the degree of channel usage and the type of wireless client being served, to maximize the quality of service delivered to each client. Further, usage and client type can vary over time. For example, a wireless communication system may only have a single client device requesting channel resources. Channel allocation in this case is relatively simple—the single client can be granted all available channel resources. However, if a second client subsequently comes on line, the wireless transmission system must reallocate channel resources to provide a sufficient quality of service to both clients, based on the possibly differing needs of each. Further, the needs of each client could change over time, with one client or the other requesting more or less channel resources. Further still, each client may require different minimum levels of channel resources to operate properly.
Thus, a critical aspect of any channel allocation scheme is the initial affiliation of a wireless device requesting service from a wireless network. Because each device seeking to access a wireless network can have differing capabilities, such as maximum and minimum data transmission and reception rates, and differing quality of service (“QoS”) needs, it is desirable to initially affiliate each client with a channel that is closely matched to the needs of the client and to the needs of the network as a whole. For example, a laptop computer accessing a local database will require far less bandwidth and access time than a high definition television requesting a broadcast program from the network. Therefore, it is likely a better use of channel resources to not group client devices having heavy duty cycles and requiring substantial channel resources, when compared to other clients, together on the same channel. Instead, it may be desirable to initially group together some light duty cycle clients and a heavy duty cycle client on a channel to more efficiently allocate channel resources at the time of first access by a device and for more efficient subsequent reallocation of channel resources.
Currently existing channel allocation systems do not provide for such an initial assessment of client devices upon first access to a wireless network, nor do they provide for real-time adjustments to the allocation of channel resources to take into account the time-changing needs of client devices and channel resources. For example, it may become necessary to drop service to one or more client devices in order to provide service to a higher priority client device requesting to join a network. Such client priority may be desired by a user or a system administrator. Alternatively, it may be desirable to refuse network access to a client device seeking to affiliate itself with the wireless network. For instance, it may be desirable to reserve channel resources for certain client devices, or to allocate channel resources based on an arbitrary criteria such that differing quality of service is delivered to each client device based on a preset priority scheme. Currently existing channel affiliation and channel allocation systems and methods do not provide this functionality.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for affiliating a device with a wireless communication system that can reduce or eliminate the problems associated with the prior art. The solution for this need may further overcome the above-mentioned issues to offer additional wireless communication services within a wireless local area network.